Distinctive Spider – wonderland?
April 11, 2010
The bright metallic green flash from this guy’s head caught my eye and I was surprised by the white, black and red stripes on the abdomen. Can’t find an example anywhere. Any idea of genus-species? Found on a mile marker along a hiking trail in Southern California.
Adriano
Ventura County, California
Hi Adriano,
This is a Jumping Spider in the family Salticidae. We quickly scanned through the images on BugGuide, but could not find a match. Perhaps one of our readers can assist.
Identification and questions
Incorporating IDs from comments?
May 3, 2010
(I might have accidentally submitted this through the “ID this bug” form before I read the directions closely enough; if so, very sorry!)
Hi guys! You run a wonderful, much-needed, and tremendously educational site. My question: Are there any criteria you apply as you decide when to update an entry based on identifications provided in readers’ comments? This was done with the April 30 entry “Longicorn from New Guinea may be Batocera kibleri”, for example, but my ID of the April 11 jumping spider as Salticus palpalis — about which I have much greater confidence than any other identification I’ve attempted here — has gone unremarked, even though my comment was approved. Are commenters’ qualifications, amount of activity on the site, or history of correct identifications among the criteria you consider? Or is it just a matter of what you happen to notice or feel significant in the very limited time you have? 🙂 Not being critical and certainly not upset or anything, just curious. Thanks again for all you do!
Randy
Hi Randy,
WE really are not able to incorporate every comment into the initial posting, but on some occasions we try to incorporate information dealing with difficult identifications. Some longtime contributors email us as well as making postings, and some even older contributors never provide comments. Eric Eaton communicates through our personal email address. We are sorry if you felt snubbed or overlooked. It was not intentional.
Got to be a male “Salticus palpalis” zebra spider: http://nathistoc.bio.uci.edu/spiders/Salticus.htm.
I found this same spider here in Fountain Hills, AZ and could not find any information on what subspecies this jumper is.
It is not a zebra spider which is brown and white with diagonal striping on it’s abdomen. My spider is like the one photographed above with horizontal rusty brown, black and white stripes and green/gold metallic head. Found mine 9-15-18 in Fountain Hills, AZ